Production of color music and other luminous effects and apparatus therefor



A. B. HECTOR. PRODUCTION 0F COLOR MUSIC AND OTHER LUMINOUS EFFECTS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.

. APPLICATION FILED Iuns 8, Isn.

A. B. HECTOR.

- PRODUCTION 0F COLOR MUSIC AND OTHER LUMINOUS EFFECTS AND APPARATUS TIIEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8,1917. 1,432,552.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Oct, 17, 1922.

A. B. HECTOR. PRODUCTION OF COLOR MUSTO ANO OTHER Lummous EFFECTS ANO APPARATUS THEREFOR.

1,432,552. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1917 y 17 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. B. HECTOR.

2. 2 .9 .1 7. 1 w 0 d m m D.. um E N U D n N o n.. A m H DI A 5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

PRODUCTION 0F COLOR MUSIC AND OTHER LUMINOUS EFFECTS AND APPARATUSTHEHEFOR. 1,432,552.

A. B. HECTOR. I RODUCTION 0F COLOR MUSIC AND OTHER LUMINOUS EFFECTS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.

Patented OGL. 17, 1922.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

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APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1917.

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Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

UNiTED STATES PATENT orFicE.

ALEXANDER BURNETT HECTOR, OF GREEN WICH, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

PRODUCTION F COLOR MUSIC A ND OTHER LUMINOUS EFFECTS AND APIARATUS THEREFOR.

Application led June 8, 1917. Serial No. 173,872.

T 0 all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER BURNE'r/i HECTOR, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Greenwich, near Sydney, in

the State of New South lVales, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Production oi' Color `Music and Other Luminous illtlects and Apparatus Therefor, of'

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in my prior British Patent No. 29,615 of 1912 and 'to improvements covered by a further application -for patent filed June 8, 1917,

le Serial No. 173,671 and consists irstly in the means Jfor forming what l term scales of colors controlled by 'the individual keys of an organ, piano` or other keyed instrunient in definite ratios of space occupied by the various colors in the normal solar spectrum; secondly, in the means whereby the stops ot an organ operate switches to illuininate electric lamps of a candle power and reflectors with an area in definite ratios; and, thirdly, in the particular apparatus whereby the various colored electric lamps so positioned and arranged are controlled by the keys to make and break contacts or diniinisli or increase the intensity ot the lamps.

1t is woll known (see for example, Modern Uhroinatics, by (laden N. Rood, page 24e) that if the space occupied by the normal solar spectrum be divided into, say.

1.00() parts, the various colors occupy dit'- it'ereiit proportions of this space, the ratios .for cach color being as shown iii the following` table A.

Table A.

Rod 39,0

40 Orange red Orange s 25 Orange yellow Yellow In applying these ratios to Ytorni my scale of colors controllable by the keys of an organ. l commence with the lowest bass note and proceed upwardly through the first four 4octaves or 48 notes as follows z- Table B.

Lamps 1 0l` (Bass notes). Keys. Series of lamps. Reds l5 15 Orangercds.. 5 5 Oranges 2 2 Orangeyellow.. 1 1 Ye1lo\v.... 1 1 Greenishye 5 5 60 Greon..... 4 4 Blue green l 1 Cyanbliie 2 2 isiue.. 4 4 Violet blue 6 S 6 Violet i 2 2 (Treble notes).

35 The remainingthirteen treble notes are tinted in varying degrees of violet pink and light pink, merging into white light.

r1`lie sub-base stop controls lamps of a hue descending trom violets and purples to blues 70 and greens of the deepest hue, the lowest note being greenish yellow, in the Yfollowing` ratios Lamps y 0T hals' sei'icsrif lamps.

= il .1 2 r l 2 A, so 4 This arrangement or' color in the ratios set forth would also apply in the case of a piano or other keyed instrument, it is ot' 85 fundamental importaiice,'and it would apply to all apparatus outlined in my prior British Patent No. 29,615 of 1912.

This scale of ratio of the spectrum colors may be arranged over the various keys and octaves in several ways to suit diilereiit classes of music. These arrangements are conveniently shown in the following, wherein m denotes any suitable constant lt is well lmown that when a given stop is pulled out in an organ, sound 'of a given volume and quality is produced, the volume Table increasing as a 2 feet, tfeet', 8 feet, 16 feet and sub-base or 32 feet stops and so on Octavos (treble): com' Hw is operated upon. Arrangements are made so'that these stops operate a given switch ist octave 12 keys Wkite........ Depth it. brmgmg im? hght lamps 0f a Candle Power reiiectors with an area, and color of a hue zndoctavemkeys or lshade in the following ratio, :ade-

noting any suitable predetermined unit or 3rd octave 12 keys Violet to red.. Depth 2x. CHSta'nt which is the salme throughOut any given column, but not necessarily the same im octave 12 keys in diiiferent columns.

5th octave 12 keys T F..

6th octave l2 keys Violet to red.. Depth 4x. Ratios of Area of' De th Thick Stops candlereflect` ois ade Degf 7th octave 12 keys power ors o com.' filamentes s e a 8x 8J: 8::v 8x T 1er isz am@ D 64k 64k Octavos (treble). Color. Hue. I

linV the accompanying drawings, 1st12keys..y White Depth 1x. Figures l and 2 we respemive 7 view and plan ot part oi" an merican zndizkeys organ illustrating my apparatus for eifect- ..}Vi01e,t0rcd Depth 2 ing Contact oit each key to'control its par 3rd 12 keys tisular lamp.

Figures 3 and l represent in plan and eleah 12 keys vation an arrangement ot stops on an Amer- }vi0iettored. Depth 4f. ican orga-n tor bringing in lamps ot the re- 5th 12 keys quired candle power..

' Figure 5 is a diagrammatic drawing illus- 6th 12 keys trating means tor bringing in all the lamps iviolettored Depth Srsimultaneously by a master switch actuated 1th izkeys by he left km@ Swen, y

` Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view illus- (BSSJ trating an arrangement ot lamps `in acicordance with liable C. Table E. Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a series ot banks ot lamps. octgvescrebie). Color. Hue. Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view of the wiring for the series of banks ot lamps 1st 12 keys White Depthlr, .shown in Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the parts 2nd 12 keys Violet tored.. Depth 21. Shown in Figures 1 and Q The same reference characters indicate the m12 keys Violettored.. Depth 41- same or like parts in the several views.

Referring to lFigs.. 1, 2 and 9 A. iS a N112 keys Violettofei- DPth 8I- key of an American organ which when de pressed causes the plunger B to operate on 5th l2 keys Violet tored.. Depth 16x. a Sticker C to 1.618858 the if pressure and produce a given sound. Also when the oc- 6th12keys Violet tored.. Depth32x. tave coupler is pulled out it raises a series of levers D bringing them in contact with 7th 12 keys Violet to red. Depth 64x. lugs E Situated underneath each key A S0 that tor every key depressed the octave above (Bass.)

is also sounded.

a series of metal strips F equalling the number of keys. Above eac-h of these is screwed another insulating piece H also bearing a metal strip J registering with the corresponding strips F, the several pairs of strips- J and F being capable of being brought into conta-ct by the movements of the various plungcrs when the corresponding key A is depressed. I thereby form a series of switches arranged in parallel with a common return and a lamp or series of lamps is illuminated by the current on the depression of each key A. W hen an octave coupler as B is pulled out as will be understood thearm Ii is brought close to the lug E so that when the key A is depressed the octave key corresponding to A is depressed by the coupler rod. At the same time the two sets of contacts F, .l (Fig. 5), are closed and two lamps or series of lampscorresponding to key A and its octave-are illuminated.

In Figures 3 and 4 are illustrated devices controlled by the stops of an orga-n for bringing in lamps of the desired candle power. L represents the stops to the end of each of which is fixed a contact piece M capable of completing an electric circuit between the contacts N and O when one of the stops is pulled out, the contacts N and O being carried. on the insulated support I. These contacts N and O are connected in the lamp and battery circuit as shown in Fig. 5, and upon pulling out any stop and completing the circuit through N M and O the current from a battery or other source is made to liow to one side of each switch under a certain number of keys corresponding in number to' those controlled by the stop which is withdrawn. On depressing any key the electric circuit is completed through the switch under the key as shown clearly in Figure 5.

By means of the master switch R actuated by the left knee swell all the lamps may be illuminated simultaneously, as will be understood from Fig. 5.

An embodiment of the invention in a complete system is diagrammatically illustrated in Figures 6, 7. and 8.

Referring to Figure 6, 22 represents twelve white lamps. the first of which is spaced 1m (m being any suitable unit distance) from the screen 19. the remaining eleven lamps being gradually spaced up to about 2r. Then follows 23, representing 3 violet colored lamps, 24, representing 4 violet blue colored lamps, 25, represent-ing 2 blue colored lamps, 26, representing 2 cyan Ablue colored lamps, 27, representlng 1 blue green colored lamp, spaced from 2m to about 4m.

28, representing 3 green colored lamps, 29, representing 2 yellowish green colored lamps, 30, representing 1 greenish yellow colored lamp, 31, representing 1 yellow colored lamp, 32, representing 1 orange yellow colored lamp, 33, representing 1 orange colored lamp, 34, representing 3 orange red colored lamps, spaced from 4x to about 8a?. l

35, representing 12 red colored "lamps varying in intensity of hue, spaced from 8o: to about 16m.

36, representing 3 violet colored lamps, 37, representing 4 blue, violet colored lamps, 38, representing 2 blue colored lamps, 39, representing 2 cyan blue colored lamps, 40, representing 1 bllue greenl colo-red lamp, spaced from 16m to about 32m.

41, representing 3 green colored lamps, 42, representing `2 yellowish green colored lamps, 43, representing 1 greenish yellow colored lamp, 44, representing 1 yellow colored lamp, 45, representing 1 orange yellow colored lamp, 46, representing 1 orange colored lamp, 47, representing 3 orange red colored lamps, spaced from 32x to about 64m.

48, representing 12 red colored lamps, spaced from 64 to about 128m distance from the screen. y

Referring to Fi ure 7, 10 is aplayer piano and 11 an organ aving controllers 12 and 13 respectively operated by the sou'nd volume varying means of the instrument, 14 is a transformer, 15 a double throw switch, and 19 the screen.

50 (see also Fig. 8) represents master relays controlled respectively by the switches M, N, O, (Figs. 3 and 4) of the several stops L. Each of the relays 50 controls one of a series of banks of lights 51 to 60 similar respectively to the single bank or unit illustrated in Figure 6 and varying in size and distance from the screen 19 inl ratio to the sound or size of pipe or reeduised on withdrawing a given draw stop or stops of the organ. Each of the instrument keys A controls, th'rough its switch F, J, a lamp relay 61. Each lamp relay 61 controls all lamps of the same color value but of diiferent sizes and intensities, while each master relay 50 controls all lamps of the same intensity but of different colors.

In Figure 7 the lamps shown in full lines may be operated by a draw stop in the same way as the reeds or pipes of an organ. An

individual stop of some organs controls the Whole of the sixty one notes of the organ, While in other organs th'e stops are divided into bass (twenty-four keys) and treble (thirty-seven keys). 'The precise arrangement of the apparatus ma-y be considerably varied in accordance with the particular construction of organ or other instrument, a lamp being added for each individual reed or pipe employed. lThe main object has been to provide apparatus which synchronizes sound and color in accordance with the geometrical progression set forth in the foregoing tables. It will, of course be under stood that the figures given in these tables are merely illustrative and that others may be adopted according tothe requirements so long as the fundamental proportions are maintained.

Having thus described my invention what li claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a. musical instrument having a series of keys embracing a range in excess of a single octave, and a series of devices for displaying lights of different colors, means for controlling said devices from the respective keys of said series, the relative arrangement of said keys and color displaying devices being snch that as the several keys of the complete series of keys are successively operated in the order of the note scale thecolors Will be displayed in the order in which they appear in the solar spectrum, such lights progressing geometri# cally in intensity relatively to increases in the sounds produced by the different notes of the note scale.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a musical instrument having a series of keys embracing a range in excess of a single octave and means for varying the volume of sound reduced by said instrument, a series o devices for displaying lights of different colors, means for controlling said devices by the respective keys of said instrument, the relative arrangement of said keys and devices being such that as the several keys of the complete series of keys are successively operated in the order of the note scale the colors will be displayed in the order in which they appear' in the solar spectrum and the intensity of the lights Will progress geometrically relatively to increases in the sounds produced by the different notes of the note scale, and means operatively connected With the sound volume varying means of said instrument for relatively varying the intensity of the light displayed.

3. 'An apparatus of the character described comprising a musical instrument having a series of keys representing a plurality of octaves, a series of devices for displaying llights of diilerent colors, and means for controlling said devices frcm the respective keys of said series the devices controlled by the keys of different octaves displaying colors of' different hues and the lights controlled by the keys of each octave progressing geometrically in intensity relatively to increases in the sounds produced by the key of the respective octave.

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand.

ALEXANDER BURNETT HECTOR. Witnesses CHARLES E. GRAHAM, HENRY W. CLARKE. 

